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The baroque period musical style
A brief biography of Antonio Vivaldi
Baroque music essay
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Recommended: The baroque period musical style
Deannine Cerbone
Professor David Kellogg
CRN 40970
9 April 2015
Antonio Lucio Vivaldi Antonio Lucio Vivaldi is well-known as an Italian composer and violinist during the Baroque period. In fact he’s considered the greatest master of Italian baroque, especially in the concerto grosso and violin music. Vivaldi was born in Venice, Italy March of 1678, he lived to the age of 63 and died July of 1741 in Vienna, Austria. Vivaldi’s father, Giovanni Battista Vivaldi, was a barber and professional violinist, he began to teach Antonio at a very young age, he ultimately became a virtuoso violinist. Antonio and his father performed together often and during this time Antonio was exposed to many talented musicians and composers in Venice (Bio. A& E Television Networks, 2015). He tried to play wind instruments, however, he was plagued by a type of bronchial dilation which historians believe was asthma, this inhibited him to successfully learn to play the wind instruments. At age 15, Antonio began to study for the priesthood, yet after his ordination in 1703 into the priesthood, in which he was known as “the Red Priest” (Bio. A & E Television Networks, 2015), he put blame to the “asthma” that he could not give Mass due to his short wind therefore he withdrew himself. He returned to music and accepted “his first position as maestro di violin at the Pio Ospedale della Pieta’, one of four Venetian
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Vivaldi worked with the Pieta’ on and off throughout his “career: as a violin master (1703-09; 1711-15), director of instrumental music (1716-17; 1735-38), and paid
Antonio Stradivari, the most famous violin-maker in all the human world, was a favorite of both the god of Delos, the fair Apollo, and of the trickster god, Hermes. His creations sang with the lilt of dance and with the song of birds; many of the Olympians would stop their affairs to listen for even a hint of Stradivari's sound. In short time, it came to be that both Apollo and Hermes would covet a violin from the luthier and both came down in their human forms one day to make their request of him.
Giuseppe Torelli, was an Italian violinist, teacher and composer, is considered one of the early developers of the Baroque concerto and concerto grosso. Torelli also composed a significant number of works for the trumpet during the Baroque period (1600-1750). Around 1690, one can begin to see the first works for the trumpet. He was familiar with the virtuoso trumpeter, Giovanni Pellegrino Brandi. Brandi would sometimes play with the San Petronio orchestra, of which Torelli was violin player. This acquaintance could explain Torelli’s awareness of the trumpet’s timbre, dynamic range, and expressive capabilities.
The Baroque era was born out of the Roman Catholic Church’s Counter Reformation, during which the church made considerable efforts to strengthen the relationship between the secular world and the religious order. In an effort to engage the common people and create piety, the Catholic Church wanted art to appeal to human emotions. Gentileschi successfully accomplishes this in her painting, Judith Slaying Holofernes. By infusing the Apocryphal tale of Judith with dramatic techniques such as chiaroscuro and foreshortening, she created a deeply moving and realistic piece of art that engages the viewer physically and emotionally, which is quintessential to the Baroque style.
When it comes to music history, the Castrati are one of the most important and debated topics. The Castrati were men (in Italian opera) that had been castrated during puberty to stop a flow of hormones, causing them to have the voice of a soprano woman, but the vocal power of an older, full-grown man. A general estimate said that four thousand boys a year were castrated in Italy. Some Castrati tried to make it in church choirs (which often gave them almost nothing of monetary value), most chose the opera route. They reigned supreme when they got onstage, being the obvious star of the show. They were the master performers that drew the crowd in with their amazing voices. During the Baroque period, they made up more than half of the soprano singers in opera.
Antonio Vivaldi born on March 4th 1678, which was the Baroque music style. In 1678 not only was it the baroque period it was also the years just after the Renaissance. 1670s was part of the Age of Abolitionism. The Age of Absolutism was the age when European monarchs struggled to centralize their power. And in Britain the English Civil war and the glorious revolution happened a few years prior to Vivaldi's life. In Russia, Peter the Great and Catherine the great were reforming Europe and trying to improve it. Antonio lived until July 28th 1741, in his life the enlightenment happened, it was the age of reason, philosophy, and age of new music. Great music and composers came out of this era, Ludwig van Beethoven, Johann Bach, Frederic Chopin, George Handel, Wolfgang Mozart and many more composers. Also under this time ballets and operas became popular to the public. This was the time of the application of the Renaissance. Antonio Vivaldi had an interesting life during this time period, his childhood, his outstanding music and unique style, and influence were special for this time.
Harman, Alec, and Anthony Milner. Late Renaissance and Baroque Music. London: Barrie Books LTD., 1959. ML193.H37
Vivaldi's music is particularly innovative as he gave brightness to the formal and the rhythmic structure of concertos. He repeatedly looked for harmonic contrasts, creating innovative melodies and themes. Vivaldi’ main goal was to create a musical piece meant to be appreciated by the wide public, and not only by an intellectual minority. The joyful appearance of his music reveals a transmittable joy of composing. These are among the causes of the vast popularity of his music. This popularity soon made him famous also in countries like France, at the time very closed into its national schemes. He is considered one of the authors that brought Baroque music to evolve into an impressionist style.
John Warrack, author of 6 Great Composers, stated, “Any study of a composer, however brief, must have as its only purpose encouragement of the reader to greater enjoyment of the music” (Warrack, p.2). The composers and musicians of the Renaissance period need to be discussed and studied so that listeners, performers, and readers can appreciate and understand the beginnings of music theory and form. The reader can also understand the driving force of the composer, whether sacred or secular, popularity or religious growth. To begin understanding music composition one must begin at the birth, or rebirth of music and the composers who created the great change.
...ts of fever and general ill-health. And in his last ten years in Vienna, the constant need to write commissioned work - for he was the first of the composing freelances, with no regular patrons or court salaries - had worn him down to the point where one bout of fever was sure to finish him off. In July he'd had the anonymous commission to write a Requiem for the Dead; but that had been progressing slowly, because he'd been busy with two operas - La Clemenza di Tito and The Magic Flute - and two cantatas at the same time. Thirty-five years of artistic, social and personal pressure was taking its toll.
Vivaldi wanted to go into priesthood, but due to illness he was unable to continue this pursuit. (Kamien, 2015, p. 126). He spent the rest of his life involved in many aspects of music: teaching, composing, and conducting. It is important to reflect on the composer’s history to gain insight into their perspective. Kamien (2015) describes Vivaldi as a virtuoso violinist which is why he mainly featured violins in his works (p.127).
From the Early Renaissance to the High Renaissance, there was a movement from vocal music to a combination of vocal and instrumental music (Brown, 1976). There are seven categories of instrumental music: 1) vocal music played by instruments, 2) settings of pre-existing melodies, 3) variation sets, 4) ricercars, fantasias, and canzonas, 5) preludes, preambles, and toccatas for solo instruments, 6) dance music, and 7) songs composed specifically for lute and solo voice (Brown, 1976). Italy dominated the stage for instrumental music at this time, and it was not until the last decades of the sixteenth century that English instrumental music became popular (Brow...
Petronio ultimately led him to becoming the most prolific Italian composer of baroque trumpet pieces. He contributed over three dozen pieces variously entitled sonata, sinfonia, or concerto, for one to four trumpets, to the collection of trumpet repertoire. All eight of his collections of concerts, sinfonias, and sonatas were published chronologically, making it easy to trace his progress as a composer and how he contributed to the concerto and concerto grosso genres over his career. Torelli’s works are well preserved and those that were not published remain in manuscript. Although Giuseppe Torelli built his career as a virtuoso violinist and composer of string chamber works he contributed immensely to the world of trumpet literature to the point where he has become a household name in the realm of modern trumpet
Strozzi, Barbara. Cantate, ariete a una, doce, e tre voci, Opus 3. Ed. Gail Archer. In Recent Researches in the Music of the Baroque Era. vol. 83. Ed. Christoph Wolff. Madisono: A-R Editions, Inc., 1997.
Baroque art can be described as a “distinctive new style” in which artists embraced “dynamism, theatricality, and elaborate ornamentation, all used to spectacular effect, often on a grandiose scale”. Baroque art encompasses a vast range of art from the dramatic and theatrical Italian pieces, as the quote suggests, to the more simple and every-day life but still fabulous Dutch pieces. Baroque art can hardly be contained in one description because it describes so many types of art, in great part due to the religious, socio-economic, and political scenes of the time. Religiously, the Catholic Church was responding to the Reformation by creating dramatic pieces to invoke piety and devotion. Politically, monarchies and rulers were using commissioned art to emphasize their authority and their given right to rule. Socio-economically, the middle class was rising and therefore wanting to buy and commission pieces of art to boost their reputation and validate their status in the social scene. These three changes were extremely significant but can by no means generalize the entire historical context of Baroque art. Instead, they stand as specific examples of important reasons for the range and breadth of Baroque art.
According to Michael Talbot, of Grove Music, as well as the liner notes from the Analekta Classical Music CD, Antonio Vivaldi was born to Giovanni Battista and Camilla Calicchio in Venice in 1678. Giovanni made a profitable living as an accomplished violinist, and became Vivaldi’s main instructor from an early age. The oldest of nine children, Vivaldi led the way in studying music, and became the most musical of his siblings. Vivaldi spent much time learning about and preparing to be ordained to the office of a priest. In 1703, he was ordained a priest, but resigned after just a year due to his acclaimed medical limits (Heller 38-40). For his entire life, Vivaldi struggled with the effects of bronchial asthma and was unable to play wind instruments. Though his asthma was a real issue, there is some question about the actual reason of his resignation. He was often rumored to leave a Mass when inspired with new musical ideas. After serving as a priest, Vivaldi was hired by the Ospedale della Pieta, one of four learning institutions intended for orphaned, abando...